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The Boob
The Boob is a short story which was first published in Popular Flying in September 1932 and was subsequently collected as the 11th chapter of the very first Biggles book The Camels are Coming, also published in September 1932. The story was subsequently republished in The Modern Boy Issue 267, 18th March 1933. The story is notable as the setting for the first appearance of Algy. The story also appeared as the fifth short story of Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter published in 1954 and again in 1978 as part of Biggles of the Royal Flying Corps. A variant of this story was also published in the Modern Boy's Annual 1940. The story was retitled Bertie the boob. The World War 1 266 Sqn setting is retained with all the other characters but the Algernon Montgomery character is changed to Bertram Montgomery. It is not clear why Johns felt the need to make this change. This new character is definitely not Bertie Lissie and in the story, Bertram is still Biggles' cousin. Synopsis Biggles gets a letter from an aunt advising him that his cousin, Algy, will be joining him in 266 Sqn. Biggles is none too keen, and Algy doesn't look like a promising pilot but, as always, first impressions can be deceiving. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Characters *Biggles *Major Mullen *Captain Mahoney *Captain MacLaren *Healy *Algy Lacey *Adams *Von Kirtner - mentioned as commander of a "circus" of Fokkers Aircraft *Sopwith Camel *Fokker Places Visited *266 Sqn, Maranique *Mossyface Wood Editorial Changes *In the Pioneer Air Fighter version, the usual toning down of language is employed. *In the Bertie the Boob version some small points are deleted and there are a few totally new paragraphs. These new paragraphs are mainly descriptive and don't add much to the stoy. The motivation behind these additions is not clear. It might simply have been to get the right length for easy typesetting. Other Research Notes *Aerial Victories: **Algy 1 (Fokker) **We might also assign a probable to Biggles. In the second engagement, Biggles, Healy and Algy take on 6 Fokkers. The events run as follows: ***Healy collides into one. Biggles says, "That's five to two now." ***During the battle, Biggles turns into a mess of circling aircraft "raking the Fokker that had opened fire on the other Camel. It zoomed suddenly...." ***Next, a Fokker gets on Algy's tail. Biggles "raked it until it had to turn to face him." ***In the next paragraph, it is stated that "there were still four Fokkers". ***So one Fokker has been downed, probably by one of the two "raking" fires about. It can't be attributed to Algy because his guns had jammed. References to the past Incongruities Chronology (see also table at Timeline of the Biggles Stories) *Algy's arrival at 266 Sqn can be calculated to be some time in August 1917.Ward Powers. "What Happened to Biggles in WW1?" ''Biggles Flies Again'' Vol. 3 No. 1, June 2009. Some of the factors in this calculation would be: **In The Zone Call, Algy has not arrived at 266 as of 20th July 1917. **He has certainly arrived by the time of Biggles Flies East which can be placed in October 1917. **From The Funk we know that Algy has to spend a minimum of 6 weeks at 266 Sqn before Flies East. Publication History *''Popular Flying'', September 1932 *''The Camels are Coming'', John Hamilton, 1932 *''The Modern Boy'', Issue 267, 18th Mar 1933 *''Biggles in the Camels are Coming'', Boys' Friend Library, 1938 *''Modern Boy's Annual'', 1940 (in modified form, as Bertie the Boob *''Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter'', Thames, 1954 and reprints *''Biggles of the Royal Flying Corps'', Purnell, 1978 (as Chapter 5: The Zone Call) *''Biggles: The Camels are Coming'', Red Fox, 1993 and subsequent reprints and editions *''The Camels are Coming'', Norman Wright, 2010 References Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:World War One era short stories